Main news of December 18

A roundup of what has happened in the past 24 hours

WORLD

* Bolivia has recognized a sovereign Palestinian state on the 1967 borders with Israel, following neighboring Brazil and Argentina's suit

* Bad weather is likely to delay South Korea's artillery drills planned to take place on the island in the Yellow Sea that was attacked by North Korea last month

* The next round of Russia-EU talks are expected to be held in early February 2011, Russian Foreign Ministry said

* The efforts which the Palestine's administration takes to develop state institutions and bolster economic growth will create a certain base for setting up an independent state by the summer of 2011, Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad said

* China on Saturday urged the traditional participants of the Korean six-party talks to hold urgent consultations to help abate tensions between North and South Koreas and avoid yet another armed conflict

RUSSIA

* Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin did not rule out he could lead in pro-Kremlin United Russia party list in State Duma elections

* Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin expects the country's Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) to help modernize Russia;s economy, while analyzing information on future developments and directing appropriate industries

* Russian priests may be allowed to be involved in politics in a case of "a church dire need," Echo Moskvy radio station reported citing a chairman of the Synodal Department for Relations of the Russian Orthodox Church and Society, Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin

* About 100 people, several of them armed with non-lethal weapons, were detained near the All-Russian Exhibition Center (VVTs) in northeastern Moscow

* A total of eight people, including three children, died in fire in the city of Vologda, in central European Russia, local emergency ministry said

*Police have detained over 2,100 protesters in Moscow and Moscow region  amid new wave of race disturbances

* The Russian delegation to the UN summoned an urgent meeting of the UN Security Council to discuss the situation on the Korean Peninsula, the permanent mission of the Russian Federation to the UN said

SPORTS

* Russian Stanislav Donets turned in a meet record in the men's 50 back at the FINA World Short Course Championships in Dubai